08/10/2008

The BBC’s recent increased commitment to Scotland - including a pledge to increase the proportion of Scottish-made programmes that are broadcast on the UK-wide network - took another step forward yesterday, with news that the BBC Scotland Controller is to sit on the Corporation's main operational decision-making group.

Ken MacQuarrie - along with his counterparts in Wales and Northern Ireland - are to join the BBC Direction Group, in-so-doing becoming a BBC ‘director’.

The Direction Group is the BBC’s “operational decision-making group which meets to take operational decisions and follow the strategy set by the BBC Executive Board”.

Until now, Scotland has been represented at the group - which meets weekly - by a director of BBC Nations and Regions, Pat Loughrey, who is to leave the BBC next summer.

Says Mark Thompson, the Director-General at the BBC: “[This] will add weight to the out-of-London representation on the BBC’s senior strategy and decision-making body.”

He adds: “Under Pat Loughrey's leadership, the nations and regions of the UK have come on a long and highly successful journey to become the creative powerhouses they are today. From Doctor Who to Still Game, God on Trial to the brilliant coverage of last year's floods, much of the best the BBC produces now comes from across the UK. Pat Loughrey has played a critical part in laying the foundations for these editorial successes and creating a compelling vision of the future.”

Last year, Thompson pledged that, within eight years, Scottish-made BBC programmes will comprise at least nine per cent of the UK network. More recently, the BBC announced that three commissioning editor posts are to be based in Glasgow: for factual, entertainment and daytime. These are expected to be advertised soon.


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